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Senate Confirms 27 Obama Nominees

By Kate Phillips February 11, 2010 8:43 pmFebruary 11, 2010 8:43 pm

Updated Before leaving for the President’s Day break, the Senate tonight confirmed — by unanimous consent — 27 of President Obama‘s nominees to federal positions, under a threat made earlier this week by the president that he might make recess appointments not requiring Senate votes. None of these seemed controversial; the senators approved these amid a backlog of presidential nominations and holds on some.

The action was taken after President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid warned earlier this week that the weeklong holiday recess might provide an opportunity for the president to make recess appointments, a threat underscoring an intent to break the logjam on some key people who have waited months to be confirmed. (A key Democratic chairman, Senator Patrick Leahy of the Judiciary committee, was quoted today as saying that perhaps Mr. Obama should consider doing so for Dawn Johnsen, who has been nominated to head the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department. She’s been among those most opposed by Republicans — and one of the nominees stalled the longest — because of her work years ago with abortion rights groups and her views on Bush administration interrogation policies, among other reasons.)

Update: After the Senate’s moves, the White House tonight issued a statement by Mr. Obama, in which he welcomed the votes, and seemed to signal he would not be making recess appointments anytime soon.

The statement reads:

At the beginning of the week, a staggering 63 nominees had been stalled in the Senate because one or more senators placed a hold on their nomination. In most cases, these holds have had nothing to do with the nominee’s qualifications or even political views, and these nominees have already received broad, bipartisan support in the committee process.

Instead, many holds were motivated by a desire to leverage projects for a Senator’s state or simply to frustrate progress. It is precisely these kinds of tactics that enrage the American people.

And so on Tuesday, I told Senator McConnell that if Republican senators did not release these holds, I would exercise my authority to fill critically-needed positions in the federal government temporarily through the use of recess appointments. This is a rare but not unprecedented step that many other presidents have taken. Since that meeting, I am gratified that Republican senators have responded by releasing many of these holds and allowing 29 nominees to receive a vote in the Senate.

While this is a good first step, there are still dozens of nominees on hold who deserve a similar vote, and I will be looking for action from the Senate when it returns from recess. If they do not act, I reserve the right to use my recess appointment authority in the future.

Among those confirmed tonight, according to the office of Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader from Kentucky: Ketanji Brown Jackson, of Maryland, to be a member of the United States Sentencing Commission; Susan B. Carbon, of New Hampshire, to be director of the Violence Against Women Office; Betty King to be Ambassador, International Organization, the United Nations; Caryn Wagner to be Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security; Sara Manzano-Diaz, of Pennsylvania, to be director of the Women’s Bureau; Patrick Corvington, chief of the Corporation for National and Community Service; Robert A. Petzel, of Minnesota, to be under-secretary for health of the Department of Veterans Affairs; Nicole Yvette Lamb-Hale, of Michigan, assistant secretary of Commerce; Marisa Lago, of New York, assistant Treasury secretary; Ellen Gloninger Murray, of Virginia, assistant secretary of Health and Human Services; Bryan Hayes Samuels, of Illinois, commissioner on Children, Youth, and Families, Health and Human Services.; Charles Collyns, of Maryland, deputy under-secretary at Treasury; Mary John Miller, of Maryland, assistant secretary at Treasury; André Birotte Jr., of California, to be United States Attorney for the Central District of California; Richard S. Hartunian, of New York, to be United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York; Ronald C. Machen Jr., of the District of Columbia, to be United States Attorney for the District of Columbia; Mary Sally Matiella, of Arizona, assistant secretary of the Army; Douglas B. Wilson, of Arizona, an assistant secretary of Defense; Irvin M. Mayfield, Jr., of Louisiana, member of the National Council on the Arts; Cynthia L. Attwood, of Virginia, member of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission; Sharon Y. Bowen, of New York, director of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation; Orlan Johnson, of Maryland, director of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation; Douglas A. Criscitello, of Virginia, chief financial officer, Department of Housing and Urban Development; Theodore W. Tozer, of Ohio, president, Government National Mortgage Association; David W. Mills, of Virginia, assistant secretary of Commerce; Suresh Kumar, of New Jersey, assistant secretary of Commerce and director general of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service; Kevin Wolf, of Virginia, assistant secretary of Commerce.

From the White House statement tonight, it seems as though President Obama will not move forward with recess appointments during the following week.

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